Son Gohan : A path of his own
by Hikari-J
Summary: After the Cell games are finally over, Gohan is left to deal with the aftermath to the best of his capabilities; will he surrender and go back to a "normal" life, or will he find a goal of his own worth fighting for ?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer :**** The dragon ball franchise belongs to Akira Toryama, I'm merely borrowing his universe, and his characters ;)**

It was finally the end...

It has not even been an hour since the worst threat as of yet to not only mankind, but the entire universe had been slayed; The Bio-technological android (or was it cyborg ? let's go with overgrown cockroach and be done with it) known as «Cell» who had deprived countless people of their families, their homes, and their lives; Who had used their very essence as fuel for his power; who had defied the whole planet at his self-organized tournament where the strongest warriors of the universe and the planet had gathered; names like Son Goku; Piccolo Daimaou and Tien Shinhan, fighting alongside them was also Hercule, the hope of the earthlings...

The warrior who slayed that monster, that demon for some was one who had an amazingly high fighting experience, and the power to back it up; Facing off the Saiyan Prince, Vegeta and his dim-witted henchman whose lack of brain cells did not deter the fact that he was a Saiyan Elite... Going to space on the purpose of finding seven magical artefacts which were stuff of legend he battled against the élite of the universe, the strongest warrior that the Tyrant and strongest being in the universe at the time to his knowledge, Frieza could throw at him, and then the tyrant himself... He did not win against him, but he did bring him to his knees before his power in his second, and third form... that was a feat in itself. Eradicating and his minions he then proceeded to become a Super Saiyan, the golden warrior, a transformation which was seen as a mere fairy tale to scare the children of the Frost Demon into behaving... And to master it, even going as far as surpassing it. This warrior of exception, the strongest of the known universe slayed the «abomination»; slayed Cell.

An eleven years old boy slayed the perfect monster.

Yes, this warrior was a child, and yet he went through battles, and even what some would call a War against the Cold Empire itself of an unbelievable magnitude while grown men would be shaking in fear, succeeding where the greatest warriors failed, surpassing them, and even surpassing the first super saiyan in a thousand years, Son Goku, his father who died, sacrificing himself against the villain... And now it was finally time to bring him back from the dead, alongside Cell's victims.

The seven glowing spheres, made of the purest crystal, and the mightiest of ancient magic lost to man were now shaking, emitting a golden light which was rapidly expanding towards the now dark skies above, taking the shape of a chinese dragon... The dragon Shenlong, in all his might was now summoned once more before the victorious warriors, and especially Son Gohan...

Within the mind of the young warrior, however, there had been a conflict taking place which was appeased by the knowledge of the dragon ball, a raging battle the like of which were not won with a Kamehameha wave, and a flashy transformation, no matter how impressive and powerful it may be... Blaming himself for the death of his father, for the death of his hero, he did think that it was his fault, he did think that because of his arrogance, because of his power he killed his own father in cold blood, and endangered the earth; he however had not the time to become engrossed in his self-loathing, for Cell had come back, more powerful than ever, ready to kill and start his genocide of every beings in the universe besides him. He had had to put aside his self-loathing, and his fear of his own power in order to destroy the monster, to try and redeem himself ? Maybe when he thinks back on it... To kill the monster he blamed for his father death ? Of course he had the desire to do it, no matter how much he told himself that revenge was what brought the situation on hand in the first place... To protect the earth ? It was compulsory, least he screwed up even more by allowing Cell to win, everything would have been meaningless, his father's death would be meaningless... What worse could happen ?

If only he had known, he may just have let the planet go «boom» and be done with it.

In the end, hearing his father voice led him to believe that he was still here, that everything was just a fleeting dream, or nightmare and all he had to do was to kill Cell, he then focused on it and wiped him of the face of the universe in a mighty Kamehameha wave alongside his father spiritual and psychological support... He then passed out and had not to dwell too much on it; upon being healed and regaining awareness, the dragon balls were there, and he was sure that his mistakes would be erased, that everything would be fine, then his inner conflict went back to sleep, it had no reason to really exist did it not ? After all, the main cause of it would be forgotten...

If only he had known, he may just have let the planet go «boom» and be done with it.

«I'm sorry guys, but I will have to ask you not to wish me back» The oh-so painfully familiar voice snapped him of his trance, of the numbness that he felt... His father did not want to be wished back.

He could not speak, he could not hear as his friends... his father's friends were asking him to come back, to explain them why he did so, he did not even hear his father answer, he did not even realize that he actually answered his father promising him that he would be fine, he could not even realize that he actually behaved like he always did on the outside.

His mind had just shut down and his body was working on auto-pilot, not because of the news in itself : He had always known that between protecting the earth, ensuring peace on it and for his loved ones and making the «selfish choice» of staying with his family his father would choose the former, never the latter, for his father would not be the hero he was if he took the latter... In his own eyes at least.

It was his own inner conflict which was unbearable, his own guilt, his own feeling that he would never amount to anything his father was, that he, himself could have killed Cell, that his father would be here, partying with him and his mother if he...

Oh, God, his mother.

He had not thought about his mother until now, he had not even fit her in his musing, in the bigger picture of things... He had deprived his mother of her husband ! Just when he promised her they would be a family again... ! How could he break the news to her ? There was just no way of doing it... He could hear his own voice, which was tainted by Goku and Piccolo's one answering the other, which was his own, with nothing added to it trying to reason with him, telling himself that it was not his fault, that he could not control it, that his father could have come back, that nobody even asked him to be able to handle his own power when it had gotten out of hand, that he was just a child no matter how much of a «Warrior» he was, no matter how strong he was... The other voice saying that he should have been able to control himself, to save the day...

The voices were battling, no one was winning, he was in pain, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it, he felt as if his chest was pierced by a spear, the tears were flowing from his eyes, he could feel his nose heating up, the feeling of wetness on his cheeks... And yet he did not power up, his emotions did not cause any stir in his Ki, he was subconsciously keeping it at a level where he would not go Super Saiyan, or even worse Super Saiyan 2 on anyone, he never wanted to see those forms again, no matter what... Never wanted to fight again, whenever he did somebody had to die protecting him ! First Piccolo died against the saiyans protecting his pitiful 5 year-old self, so powerful but yet unable to strike his opponent... Piccolo protecting him from Frieza, thankfully he did not die... And his father to protect him against Cell... He never wanted to see anyone die again, he did not want to be fighting...

No matter that the other voice, sounding so much like Piccolo at the moment was telling him that he was drowning himself in self-pity out of sheer stupidity, he could hear it, it was reason, but it could not fight against his feelings of pain, of sadness, of sorrow, it could only add to it by telling him that he should not be like that...

That he was even more weak than he already felt he was.

Passing Korin's Tower, he did not see nor feel the Cat-hermit frown while passing him, musing in his head.

Without even realizing, he was on his doorstep at Mount Paozu...Ready to enter while wondering how he would tell his mother.

His house was just like he had left it this very morning... Now he understood what he was thinking was silly clichés from the old movies that his mother watched during the day when his father was training, so long ago... When the main character would say «It feels like an eternity» while he had left his home earlier during the day... It did feels like an eternity, life-changing moment should be happening over the course of months if not years, his logical mind was saying.

No matter how illogical it sounded.

He could feel his mother taking him in a bear-crushing hug, his grandfather looking at them with warmth, wonder, and worry... He could also see all the pictures of his father arround him which made his heart clutch painfully... although he did not catch any heart virus, that was his father not him.

«I'm so glad that you are alive Gohan ! I thought that my only son was going to die out there fighting this monster ! You should never even have been fighting, it is all Goku's fault for making you do it and i'm sure that those Karate Bums he call his friends helped forcing your hand, as soon as I get a hand on your father I will...» She said frantically before being interrupted

«You will not be able to get an hand on him...» Gohan said in a low voice, a somewhat defeated voice, filled with his desire to conceal his sadness, and his sorrow

«What do you mean Gohan, why are you speaking like that, what happened to you ? You were not hurt were you ? Where is he, I'm not going to hurt him you know me of course, I just want to insure your safety and...» She stopped when she could not hear any answer, Gohan was just staring blankly at her.

«What is it Gohan ?! You are scaring me !» She said, putting her hands on her son's shoulders, while her father was looking away, eyes closed, having fully understood the hard truth...

«Because dad... Dad is dead mom... He died fighting and sacrificing himself against Cell» He said, while holding back himself from adding 'To make up for my screw up...' he did not want his mother reasoning with him and telling him what his father's and Piccolo's voice were «telling» him in his head, interlaced with his own voice.

He already knew that, he did not want to hear it from her.

«But... The dragon balls ! Goku told me he brought back that namekian child and that the balls were not inert any longer ! That we would use them in order to bring everyone from the dead when this conflict would be over ! Gohan... please Gohan, answer me !» She had tears in her eyes, her voice was breaking down, but still filled with something akin to hope...

But it was not hope, it was the kind of things you held on when truly despairing, it was more denial than anything else, because they knew it full well... If Goku had been brought back, her son would not be in that state.

He had this «hope» but it was broken earlier, and now he hated himself because he had to do the same for his mother... Because if not, she would not be able to move on, she would not be hearing the same conflict within herself, she would not be able to triumph.

Because she would triumph; she was not like him, she was not there to see it, unable to prevent it... Even causing it.

«Mom... Dad... could not be brought back with the set of Dragonballs currently on earth... We thought about going to Namek to use theirs but...» He trailed off, readying himself for what he was about to say, eyes closed.

«But Gohan ?...» She was oddly calm now, it was scary to hear, and to see, it was not «Calm» as in 'I just meditated for hours, and I'm now at peace within myself'...

«Dad said that he would not come back, asked us not to wish him back... To ensure that nobody would ever come once again after him to finish the job and putting us once more in danger... He sacrificed himself on the purpose of protecting us... He is dead Mom, truly dead now...» He was holding back sobs, while hugging his mother and delivering the bombshell.

And now, she was openly crying, and screaming towards the heavens the name of the very man who was once the strongest under those same heavens, who was now the strongest warrior within those heavens to the sorrow of his loved ones. The calm was now more, because it was in face just the calm before the storm, and there was no more silver lining within, the Dragon balls could not bring back an unwilling man, no matter how willing his family was.

Once again, Gohan was powerless, as his mother was crying her heart out, the poor woman now a widow, having lost one of her two reasons to live, the man she pursued from her childhood, the father of her child, no matter how much she hated some of his traits, they were also his qualities and she loved him for it, she also loved him for fighting against her attempts of changing that, she loved him for being a man who would even die to protect her loved ones...

She did, however never foresaw that he would stay dead for his loved ones... the Dragon balls were always a reality, a reality which made death less dramatic, it could be reversed, it was not an issue for them, for the protectors of the planet !

It could not be reversed, she knew it, and his son knew it, he started hugging her, the only thing he could do with a crying woman, and listened to her, not trying to solve issues that were not solvable, not trying to tell her better, for it would not work.

He listened to her as she went into how much she loved Goku, into how she met him, into how she intended for her children to be scholars so that they would not die and be ripped away from her, how she always tried to provide for them with what little money they had, how she never wanted for her children to go through that, how she wanted them to live carefree lives... And to be right in doing so, since they would be able to afford anything (with their money) and they would not die for doing so (since they would not be fighting)...How her heart clenched everytime his husband was going to fight, everytime he was going to train in order to fight...

Before then, she fought and loved it because she thought that the worse that could eventually happen, in a fight was a few broken bone, maybe life threatening injuries that were usually treated...

He listened when she told him how the fight between Piccolo, his once evil mentor almost killed her husband in a battle that looked more like a war than anything.

It was a war, nothing else, Martial arts were arts when practiced safely, but it was nonetheless «Martial» used for warfare.

How to this day, she feared for long that this «Man» would pierce holes in the chest of his husband, and worse, her only son, before taking over the planet, no matter how illogical it was, how she feared for the worse when seeing them going to war essentially.

How she did not care if the world ended, for in the end she would be reunited with them, she knew that afterlife existed, she was not afraid of it...

For how much selfish it sounded, she just did not want to go through the pain of outliving them, and mourning them.

It did not matter anyway, he would not interrupt her even if he could, he kept listening, kept rubbing her back while hugging her, hoping that it was the right thing to do, it seemed to work...

She was ranting now, pouring everything that she had ever thought, each of her supressed feelings to him, and only him since her grandfather went out, not wanting to interrupt her, it was after all a private matter, he trusted his grandson to be able to handle it.

He now understood his mother better than ever... She was not selfish compared to what others would say, at least not for him.

This was a woman who also fought, just as hard as them, in order to keep her family alive, and who was not afraid of admitting it... A woman who fought in her own way to reach her dreams of an healthy, happy, and very much alive family.

'We all want the survival of our loved ones, we never want to feel the sorrow and the void left by their death, for there is no cure to that disease that silently eat away your livelihood' He thought, remembering some quotations from his history books and mixing them together, unconsciously...

And I ripped that from her.

**You did not.** Replied that part of his mind, the fusion of his voice alongside Goku's and Piccolo's

_I could have killed Cell !_

**You could have killed him, you did not, we all make mistakes**

_'So in the end it is the same ! You are even admitting it ! I made a mistake that killed my father ! A mistake that put my mother in that state !' He replied, feeling the woman within his arms crying, feeling the wetness where her mother was burying her face, in his chest and hugging him like he was about to disappear... She was still speaking about his father._

**I admit that you made a mistake, but we all make mistakes; Dad made the same when he became a Super saiyan for the first time, ordering his friends to go, allowing Frieza to blow up the planet... Of course you did make a mistake, but it is possible to learn from it instead of bitching about it; Cell killed him, the only thing that you did, or that we did was leaving him an opening !**

_'I SHOULD HAVE NEVER LET HIM THAT OPENING THEN !'_ _he yelled at his own mind in anger._

**And yet it has been done, even Cell left openings in his guard when you were pressing him, Vegeta basically allowed him to become even stronger !**

_'The whole point of fighting is not to let your opponent have any opening ! To finish him while he can not retaliate ! I betrayed lessons that have been put into my head since I was a FUCKING CHILD STUCK INTO A FUCKING DESERT WITH A FUCKING DEMON KING, SO DON'T TELL ME IT IS NORMAL FOR ME TO HAVE LEFT HIM ANY OPENING !'_

**Do you think that...**

_'I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE, I WILL NEVER FIGHT AGAIN, IF I CANNOT DO ANYTHING RIGHT, I DO NOT SEE WHY I SHOULD BOTHER...'_ _He yelled in his own mind, trying all he could to suppress the other voice, of his own creation, his own conscience, his own backstabbing thought. 'My mother will need me, I will study for her, I will do everything I can for her, to ease her suffering... I will never train, fight or reach for my so called power ever again, I will never defend anything again... I can not defend anything, not a single person, not a planet, and even less a whole universe...' he said defeated._

Coming back to his senses, doing his best to relinquish in his sense of having finally found «peace» within himself, using meditation (which was essentially the art of letting your own mind fight within itself), he took his mother face, and looked at her, he then kissed her forehead, while she stopped crying the remaining of her tears, surprised by the gesture.

«You should go rest for a bit, I'm going to study until dinner, don't worry I will do so in the kitchen to stay with you, everything is going to be fine» He said with a smile, his face betraying nothing but happiness, seeming totally natural, even to his mother who could not see anything wrong with him... Or not wanting to see anything wrong with him.

She smiled in return, kissed his forehead, and told him «Yes, everything is going to be fine» in a tired voice, obviously trying to show some strength... if her son could, how much of a mother would she be if she could not do the same ? After all, she was the one supposed to be hugging him and reassuring him, not the other way arround !

Her little boy was strong not only in brawn, she thought proudly, if only she knew...

It was time that his training to conceal, and control his emotions was paying, even though the pain was still there, even stronger than before, he managed to put not only a strong front, but a happy front, which was looking totally genuine, as long as your name was not Piccolo or Vegeta.

For how long would it last though ?

Gohan was actually doing his best to focus on his sociology books, alongside the psychology ones, he had not given himself a single break since he started working almost twenty hours ago, when his mother had finally fallen asleep...

'Or was it cried herself to sleep ?' he thought tiredly

His work had always been advanced, he was studying calculus at nine and arithmetics at the very same time, the perks of being home-schooled was that his mother could have him work on anything, and since he started early on his studies (he could not remember her mother doing anything else than teaching him) his brain had become really good at remembering information, and cramming in knowledge... Then associating it between fields.

After all, the brain was like a muscle, the more you used it, the stronger it became, with the exception of it becoming an exponential increase when you started early on.

While he was working, this with his tiredness meant that he could not think about anything else, he could not remember the fighting, his mother crying... Or at least, the memories were not as strong.

Writing on his notebook, he was summarizing and resuming the information that he learnt from his books, to make sense of it, taking notes of the names of sociologists, and other psychologists, right beside their theories, tracing logical links between each information, associating sociology, psychology, philosophy, literature until his hand ached, until his whole arm ached... He could almost feel the pain from the wound caused by Cell, when he sacrificed said arm to protect the infamous Saiyan Prince...

_«I'm sorry... Goohan...» he had said_

He threw the pencil on the wall, effectively breaking it, it was counterproductive, every time he tried thinking about something else, he thought about the event of THAT day, anything remembered him those games.

The pictures of his father ? Check. The very house ? Check. The various gi he had stacked up in his closet ? Check. His bed where his father came to see him when he had a nightmare about Freeza ? Check...

It was becoming ridiculous, and unbearable... He only wanted to stop seeing those things...

'Maybe if I close my eyes and start focusing hard on reviewing my lessons...» He said closing his eyes...

*Thump*

As soon as he did, his head feel on his desk, fast asleep, the tiredness of the Cell Games, the day after, and just about everything put him to sleep.

'There was fire everywhere, the skies themselves were burning, darkened by the smoke and the ashes, breathing was difficult since the very air was hot, you could hear cars, alarms going off, people screaming...And those explosion, those explosions in the city which could only have been caused by a ki-user. There was blood on the ground, the various bodies on the floor were bleeding, so much that it looked like the crater was a pool of blood...

It only lacked the background music fitting the apocalypse, a part of him thought sarcastically.

He tried examining the bodies, but most were too mutilated to be identified.

«Is somebody still alive ? Do you hear me ?» He shouted, even if for the life of him he did not even remember why he was saying that.

«Go...Gohan !...» Said a oh-too familiar voice in a pained cough.

The body was lying in a pool of purple blood, he had a purple gi, or at least the remains of one, and the most distinctive feature was the green skin.

«No...No...MR PICOOLO ! What happened ?! Don't move ! I will go and...» 'Don't die' he wanted to add, no matter how silly it was, people could not control that.

«No...Gohan you need to...listen... you need to go away from here... quickly...don't stay...» He said «I'm proud of... you... don't forget...» He stopped talking, the once Demon King was dead.

There should have been some dramatic music, there should have been rain pouring from the skies mirroring the sadness and the hurt he was feeling right now, at the sight of his mentor dying for a second time... There should have been lightning strike mirroring his anger at whoever could have done that, and at himself for not having been able to prevent it.

None of that though, that mad it all the more maddening, there SHOULD have been something that changed ! It could not stay the same !... No !

Shaking, crying, feeling tired, his eyes were hurting, and his head was getting so heavy... He did not understand what was happening «NO, MISTER PICCOLO ! DON'T GO ! DON'T...» He started shouting, he stopped when a hand grabbed his ankle, he shivered and looked down slowly, shaking from his feet to his hair... Looking down, slower than he could...

A mangled body dressed in an orange gi was on the ground, the hand belonging to the said person, he was small and... he had nothing between his shoulder, the head resting further, an head which had no hair to speak of.

«No...Krillin... no...!» He then looked arround, trying not to scream.

A tall bald fighter, dressed in a green gi, which had three eye socket but whose eyes were removed in a gruesome fashion.

A tall man, barely out of his teens, with purple hair, nothing covering his torso where the word «Hope» had been carved with ki in a manner that could make wince a master in torture and interrogation from those movies Bulma watched when they were going to Namek.

A small body, dressed in a similar fashion, his armor complete but who was still in his Super Saiyan form, which was impossible since he did not have any Ki...

And finally, an orange and tattered gi, with the kanji for «Kaio» in the back, soaked in blood... This last article of clothing made Gohan stop thinking, he did no even realize he had picked it up while saying «No, No, No, No, No...No...Nooo...NOOOOOOOO» he was screaming louder than he had when transforming in both of his golden forms the first times over...

But there was no explosion of ki, there was no transformation, just sobs, just a child on his knees, crying in the gi of his dead father, the gi that had been the symbol of the hopes of so many people, as soon as you saw it, even when drowning in despair like he had been against the Ginyu Force, seeing that gi, these boots, those symbols meant only one thing, that Son Goku, his father was there, and that he would save the day, that he would end any threat, and then they would fix everything that had been done.

That gi was not meant to be shredded and soaked in blood ! Never THAT gi.

It hurted him so much.

«...Oh ? So... You are still not angry enough ? You still haven't got what it takes to fight me ?» Said a mocking voice, in a bored tone...

THAT voice. _HIS_ voice.

Turning arround, Gohan only said... Growled one word : «Cell !...»

«Brat...!» He said in a mock imitation of Gohan's voice «Did you appreciate their death ? I did my best to make it a work of art, giving them personalized death and what not... I would not be a perfect being if I was not artistic while doing what I was created for now, wouldn't I ?» He said in this smug tone of his, how much he wanted to kill him, how much he wanted revenge

«CELLLLLLL» he screamed while throwing a punch at Cell, putting in it all his anger, all his sorrow, all his hate, his loathing of the monster in front of him, he put in all his body weight, all his strength and it was ready to hit him in that smug face of his ! That arrogant face of his !

He hit, and Cell did not even flinch, it appeared to effect him less than the hit of the human champion, Hercule had.

«You are weak... You have barely anymore ki than a regular inhabitant of this planet... You are weak Son Gohan, You are weak in mind, body and soul, whereas I have the world's grateast mind behind my creation, whereas I have a body made from this planet's greatest warriors... and whereas...»

«YOU HAVE NO SOUL ! YOU ARE A MONSTER, A DEMON AND NOTHING ELSE ! YOU KILLED THEM ALL ! THERE'S NO WAY A MONSTER LIKE YOU COULD HAVE A SOUL !» He screamed trying to get out of Cell's bear hug, the very same which almost snapped his spine the last time arround

«Coming from the boy who could kill me, but who does nothing it is almost poetic... Farewell, Gohan Son...May you burn in hell !» He then threw the youngest super saiyan in history at a building, and launched a weak ki blast at him.

Even if he tried his hardest to summon his ki, Gohan could not feel it... Only he could feel the burning feeling of Cell's attack, and then only unbelievable pain.

He started screaming.'

The half-saiyan awoke from his desk in a hurry.

It was just a nightmare, none of this had actually happened.

His mother was still asleep, her ki said as much...

No matter how much he wanted to think that his father was not dead, he could not, he knew he was... only his own death at Cell's hands was a nightmare...

'Why couldn't I use my power ? It is easy to do, I have done it all my life !' He then reached inside himself, pulling at his Ki... Only to find that he could not.

His power was there, but it was not there at the same time !

«What... What's happening ?!» he said, afraid of the answer «Why can't I use my ki !?»

It was only the beginning.

He was sitting, cross-legged in a meditative stance taught to him by none other than Piccolo Daimou Junior... Or for short, trying to get a feel of his power, while not panicking of what it would mean.

Of course, he said that he never wanted to fight again, that he did not want his power... But that did not mean that he wanted it to disappear ! He needed his power...

**What for ?**

Once again, that voice, that annoying voice.

**Don't get me wrong, I'm not responsible for what is happening to you, you are.**

_How am I responsible for that ? I can feel my power but I can't use it ! What did you do ?!_

**Can't use it ? Oh please, we both know that it is not that you can't, but that you won't. The voice said with finality.**

Gohan knew that it would not improve anything to argue with that voice, that it was just the shape taken by his thoughts while meditating.

Once again, the whole purpose of meditating was to feel more at ease and calmer by the processus of letting your mind fight itself, and getting rid of anything that could disturb your inner peace.

That did not mean, however that he had to like it.

Ignoring the voice, he tried to force the ki out of him, only succeeding in pushing it further away from his reach...and with that his frustration grew larger, and larger, and the further away his ki went... he could literally see it going away from his metaphorical hand !

Even if that meant that he would never again lose control of his power, after all how could you lose control of something you did not possess, it did not mean that he was happy with it, without it there was no way he could fight again and...

'Wait... How is that a bad thing ? I don't want to fight again, I don't need to fight again...'

_«I rely on you to protect the earth from now on my son, I know you can» His father wanted him to protect the planet; and peace._

'My mother want me to study, and protect our family in another way, she suffered too much, I will not fight and make her worry anymore' It sounded hollow even to him.

But he did not care. Why should he ? No he would not train, he would not fight, he would only...

«Are you okay Gohan ?» said a gruff, and rough but concerned voice.

A white cape floating in the wind, alongside a white turban, and purple gi, so painfully similar than the one he wore in his nightmare, so much that it almost made him cringe. He thankfully caught himself in time, he did not want his sensei worrying and trying to cheer him up in his own way by talking some sense into him.

«What are you doing here ?» he said, in a carefree manner, sporting the son grin, as if nothing was wrong.

«I came to check on you, kid, I was worried after what happened in the Cell game, and about the fallout of your father decision... and it seems like I was right» Said the namekian with finality.

«What do you mean by that ? I'm fine, I understand that my father has always been a hero and I'm okay with that, I would have done the same thing in his place and I do not hold any ill feeling towards him for that !» He was honest on the last point, he did not bear any hatred towards his father, why would he ? The man always tried to make him stronger, to protect him, and to give him confidence in himself as a person... He was not the brightest man he had ever met, and he was not a good man.

No; he was a great man, the only issue being the past tense.

«Cut the charade Gohan, I have known you for too long, and you do know me as well; my speciality is reading my opponent who for the most part I have not even met before, how could you hide anything from me ?» He said in a no-nonsense voice... and Gohan did not know how he could get out of this predicament.

Fleeing the scene ? Piccolo would retrieve him, and it would only confirm what he was suspecting.

Denying ? No use, Piccolo could read him too well for that to work.

Fighting ? As if, he had as much chance as a snowball in hell without his ki, and even if he had, he would not fight. Especially not his mentor.

Not answering ? No, it was for his own good in Piccolo's mind, he would make him talk, the only variable being if he did so quickly, or if the namekian warrior had to resort to... persuasion.

Telling him the truth ? Unacceptable, if he did, he would be lectured about the same stuff that nagging voice in his head was also lecturing him, he did NOT need that.

«Gohan, what's happening and... WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ?» screamed his mother at his mentor.

'Thank you, Deus ex machina... Or is it dende ex machina ?' he thought, allowing himself a small concealed smile, a genuine one which did not last.

«I'm checking on my pupil» He said, annoyed at the woman's intervention

«YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THINGS ! BECAUSE OF ALL OF YOU MY HUSBAND DIED NOT EVEN TWO DAYS AGO ! YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY SON TO FILL HIS SPOT ! HE WILL NOT BE FIGHTING NOR DYING AS LONG AS I'M ALIVE !» she screamed, all reason forgotten

She was trying to hide that the namekian warrior still scared her witless.

«Mom... It not his fault nor the others... don't worry I won't be fighting anymore anyway if I can help it, but don't blame him...» He then turned to his mentor «And as for you ... Could you...» His voice almost broke right there, he considered just telling him everything, but he crushed that feeling, and he pursued «Could you please leave us alone for a little while ? At least some weeks, or some months... just the time for her to recover from all of that... please» He said in a pleading voice.

It did not matter how much it hurted him that his pupil... His son even did not want to tell him what was wrong, or how much it hurted to know that he did not want him arround and essentially took his mother side... That he apparently did not want to share his sorrow with one of his closest friends, and so much more...Seeing the look in the half-saiyan that he grew to love as an offspring and hearing his tone all too well with his super sensitive hearing he only said one thing : «Very well, Gohan, but promise me that as soon as you will be able to, you will come see me at the lookout... I want us to speak» he said, resigned.

«I promise you that as soon as I can fly over I will do so... don't worry about that , and... thank you...»

The namekian gave him a look that made Gohan feel like his mentor was staring at his very soul, before turning away and blasting off towards the skies.

Seeing nothing but honesty in his young pupil's words, he nodded and went away, knowing that as soon as he would be able to, Gohan would come to the lookout.

He did not know, however that without ki, his pupil would not be able to fly to the lookout anytime soon, that was the loophole in his promise... Who would imagine after all that the most powerful being on the planet could not do something as basic as flying as of now ?

It was finished, and there would never again be any instance where he would have to fight anymore, because he had nothing to gain from it.

If only he had known.

* * *

There it is, the first chapter of a story which I have imagined times and times over without ever writing it ! Since this is the first time I publish a story, I would like your insights&reviews to help me improve ! ;)


	2. A warrior's farewell

**Disclaimer : The dragon ball franchise belongs to Akira Toryama, I'm merely borrowing his universe, and his characters ;)**

* * *

Exactly one week after the Cell Games, far away from the remaining Son Family's sorrow in a room made of steel from the floor to the ceiling was a man.

This man was sitting, with one leg lied down against the floor while the other was bended in a fashion that brought his knee close to his chest, allowing his elbow to rest on the knee. To complete that look, his arm from the elbow to his hand was used to support his chin; his back was against the wall.

This man was no ordinary man; he was royalty. He was the prince of a begrudgingly admitted almost extinct race of proud warriors, the strongest in the universe feared for their might, their prowess in the battlefield and last but not least their thirst for worthy opponents. For the Saiyans, because this was the feared name of this race their planet were their greatest pride; a land obtained through a conflict which had lasted for decades if not centuries... Nobody had bothered to count besides the opposite side, the unfortunate Tuffles.

They could no longer be asked though.

That planet had been the symbol of their might, the embodiment of victory gained through blood which was holy to them.

This man sitting against the wall had been deemed worthy from his birth on, because of his power level which was off the charts even for a member of the royal family of being named after their planet... He had been the only one to receive this honor against most people beliefs.

His father, King Vegeta was the man who lead them to victory, thus the Planet had been named after him, because nobody could complain : the Saiyans respected might. He had then been named after the Planet, as an honor, he had been expected of great things, he had been expected of achieving the Legend. The Legend, becoming the greatest warrior in the universe, who wielded unfathomable power, who brought any foes who dared challenge his power to his knees, the very Super Saiyan who had allegedly killed the Emperor of the Frost Demons, King Cold's ancestor, Emperor Freeza's Ancestor and took his throne.

That Super Saiyan who apparently was the Royal Family's Ancestor.

Vegeta's hair stood proudly against Gravity itself in a show of defiance, of might, in Saiyan's mythology it meant that Saiyan were destined to greatness, that no force in the Universe could bring them down or impose it's rule on them. His jet black hair were completed by what was wrongly called a «Saiyan Armor», it was the standard armor of the Galactic Empire which had been remodeled to Freeza's tastes before being emblazoned afterwards with the Royal Crest on his suit alongside his father's.

He had not kept that one though, it was only a way for Freeza to show his «Benevolance», to tell them that he _allowed_ them to keep their dignity.

That he _**allowed**_ them. That we were his inferiors, to show to his race as a whole that their Royal Family was under another's thumb. Without even rising from his goddamn chair.

Freeza for all of his foolishness had the political skills to go along with his powers that was for sure.

There were two things that were disturbing however; and anybody who had known the Saiyan Prince for a respectable amount of time would find them... Highly disturbing to say the least and worrisome to say the worse.

First, the usually proud warrior was someone who took great pride in his training, who would use any waking moment of the day to train his body... When he stopped ? It was only to train his mind. This proud warrior was inside his gravity room, which was set to multiply Earth's pathetic gravity by two thousand times; a tool that could be used to provide a true challenge in his training, allowing a warrior such as he to steadily improve whereas he would have hit a glass ceiling elsewhere.

This warrior was instead of training at the moment sitting in his gravity room doing apparently nothing.

Secondly... his usual fierce gaze, the proud and defiant, merciless look in his eyes had been replaced by a focused glare. The same glare that he would have given at Freeza before exacting sweet and long revenge on his person. Any lesser being than the tyrant would have been praying for his life at this very moment if being at the receiving end of such.

A steel wall could not pray for his life to begin with though.

Vegeta had been, for the most part of seven days since the Cell Games sitting in the very same position, staring at the very same wall.

Ever since... _That_ day.

XxX

Vegeta had trained six whole years since Freeza's defeat for this moment, trained more than he had done in his whole life; he barely slept : he meditated; and he did even less than before indulge in commodities such as a warm bed or fine meals.

That was saying a lot considering his life under Freeza's rule.

'I had been... Somewhat relieved to die at that moment...' was only one of the back-stabbing thoughts which assaulted him ever since the Cell Games. When he had died against Freeza on Namek; when he had reached an unprecedented level of Power, even for Saiyans in recent history, when he thought that he had reached his race expectations of him and even beyond.

When he had thought he had finally become a _Super Saiyan_.

He had still been mocked, brutalized at the hands of that hated overgrown lizard, he had been stripped off his honour and of his purpose in life up until now.

When he had been taken away at five years old on Freeza's ship he had been thrilled, he would be able to fight stronger opponents that the pathetic Third-Class Saiyans that his father put against him who dared to try and hold back when he was stronger than them at his age no less.

The average power level for a Third-Class was 1000 units, he had been able to reach a power level of 1500 units at his age, before even reaching his puberty which was when a Saiyan Potential truly started to shine... It made most Saiyans expect a lot out of him : What kind of power would he wield when he reached his prime ?!

'No one had as much expectations out of myself than I did though...' His betraying thoughts, once again, he was shaking.

Then, Freeza's put him against the Saibaimen, creatures created by his dogs in white coats which he was proud to say «Exceeded the average saiyan might at their very birth !».

Exceeded the average saiyan might at their very birth ? Sure they had 1200 units... But they definitely were not up to par with a Saiyan raw fighting skills polished by experience.

They were not able to even land a blow on him after the first few times, his power increased drastically on a Daily Basis.

The Saiyans were _proud_ to say that it added credit to the myth of the Legendary Super Saiyan.

The Frost Demon overlord was _frightened_ that it could mean that it added credit to the myth of the Legendary Super Saiyan.

Freeza had been frightened of the might of the Super Saiyan, thus Freeza destroyed Planet Vegeta, thus he was logically frightened of him the Prince, the one who had the most potential.

'Because at the time, It was obvious that _I_ was the Super Saiyan' he thought sarcastically.

Oh, he had been so proud to rub it in Freeza face «He had become a Super Saiyan», he was not the «Average Saiyan Anymore» and he bared himself from imitating his mocking voice when the bastard said it to him.

He would not show to him that he did a damned good job at reaching him, potentially if he dared thinking about it... Pushing him to the edge of _breaking_.

Then he had been stripped off of his illusions, he had been nothing against Freeza's final form, he did not even know that he had a Final Form, 530 000 units of power at the time had been enough of an absurdingly high number to think otherwise. After all Freeza had been infamous for being incapable of controlling his own power, thus always outputting his full might.

His full might indeed, in his _first_ form. The bastard had more of them than that pink monstrosity Dodoria had spikes on his body.

All his life, his title of the Prince of all Saiyans instead of an honour had become his greatest weakness, Freeza's soldiers and the Lizard himself called him by his rightful title indeed.

Only to mock him because he was the Prince of a Dead race of _monkeys_.

All of his teachings, all of his pride was being stomped on a daily basis... His body was being tortured by Freeza's who he understood at the fucking age of Seven was only keeping him arround as a _trophy;_ as a _pet _to gloat at his own power, to prove to himself that he was the greatest, that no one was stronger than him and certainly not the Saiyans.

He had vowed then to become strong enough, to become strong enough to kill him and take back his rightful place as the Prince of all Saiyans.

'Not only that... I had vowed to become the Super Saiyan, to wash that stain off the face of the universe and take the throne of the rightful _ruler of the Universe_, they would respect my name, they would fear the name of «Saiyan» once again !' he thought in reminiscence, and then clutched his fist. An angry snarl finding his place on his face.

But the lizard had not become a ruler by being dumb, Saiyans got stronger by fighting stronger foes, recovering from those fights and then climbing to even higher states of power ! Their potential was bottomless ! They were the greatest ! The strongest !

How dare the bastard impede his potential then by sending him on mission that a fucking squadron of Saibamen could complete ? It did not require them ! Neither Nappa nor He.

He had however stopped calling Nappa a Saiyan since a long time ago... The bastard had forgotten his Saiyan pride, he was content to live under Freeza's rule where he could also gloat in his power while taking out weaker foes... Eating to his heart content.

He was no _warrior_, he would dispose of him when he was no longer useful, when he would topple Freeza... Anyway killing other soldiers was forbidden.

How he would take his sweet time killing them all before reaching Freeza in due time.

That thought maintained him alive and sane, mostly sane through it all... It allowed him to fight being alone in an army of hostile soldiers, with no one to turn to... It allowed him to retain his pride, because he had only that left. His family, his race, his dignity, his tail, his Planet, the meaning of his name, his culture, his future, his life !

It had all been taken away by that monstrosity ! He only had that left, his _pride_ ! His pride as a Saiyan !

Then... Freeza had beaten him, he had finally stripped him of his dream of killing him... His dream of destroying Freeza and restore his race to its past glory, him the last Saiyan would be slayed... On a backwater planet as defenceless as a mere child.

'I cried before this damn bastard !' He had thought at that moment... To this day it still haunted him.

This bastard had finally robbed him of his pride. He had had _nothing left_.

Then... In his last moment Kakarot had appeared, he had blocked each of Freeza's attack, swatted them away like annoying bugs. And Freeza had been _surprised_. He had lost his composure. Finally !

He had maybe lost his own pride but the Saiyan Pride _still_ Lived on.

Kakarot was the last Saiyan, and somehow he knew it, he had felt it ever since seeing him on Namek against the Ginyu Force.

Kakarot was the Super Saiyan, Kakarot had achieved the legend, Kakarot would _destroy_ Freeza, Freeza would be facing the full might of his worst fear, he would cry and beg for mercy like the insecure coward he really was... Like the spoiled child he really was.

Out loud in Capsule Corp, Vegeta at that thought let the same laugh escape his lips, the laugh he had laughed on Namek before dying. The laugh of a man who had lost everything, even his very life but in the end could finally die with one small hope. That it had all happened for a purpose.

He had loved gloating to Freeza, finally riling him up to the extent of making him stop his silly games and kill him... He had never managed that. There was only one issue left... He understood that Kakarot still lacked the merciless fury that he needed to truly be a Super Saiyan... He tried to instill it on him... He had asked him to carry on not only his will.

But the Saiyan race's will. As a whole.

He was ashamed upon his revival to have died then, to have been _relieved _to die and stop bearing that burden... To entrust his pride to another warrior... It had infuriated him.

But it did not change that he now felt empty... After all Freeza's had been his goal in life, killing him had been the only thing he lived for and now it had been taken away. It did not matter who did it, he was dead and now he had nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing... Nothing again. He had not even his pride anymore.

'I lost my pride... I needed to get it back !' He rose to his feet in the Gravity Room, unconsciously, he was clenching his fist on his side and his jaw was shaking.

Before dying, he had lost his pride. Nothing could get it back because he could no longer kill Freeza and get it back, in these conditions it did not matter if he took over the Universe because he could no longer call himself a true warrior, he was no longer himself without proving his worth once and for all, before getting it back ! Before breaking through his own limits, before showing to the whole universe and his dead race that he had _a right_ to claim to be the greatest warrior.

Kakarot would have no interest in becoming a ruler, he would anyway probably be terrible at it no matter what kind of values he held... He knew nothing of the true realities of the bigger world. He was a naive fool in those matters... Vegeta could become an Emperor now, nobody would stop him... He had his 'dream' in the palm of his hand.

It would have been meaningless. It would not have proved anything. He needed to beat Kakarot...For it to mean anything..._Everything_.

_«I need to see the Super Saiyan for myself... To fight him and then defeat him»_ he had said. That searing emptiness had finally vanished, He would not wallow in self-pity, he would walk forward, he only had to defeat Kakarot and then he would get back his Pride, he would once again be the strongest, he would have achieved what he was meant to be !

Freeza had been his goal since his birth, he had been expected, _destined_ to topple him, the Saiyan race had been avenged, it was time to be truly live for himself and achieve what he was meant to be. He had taken, unconsciously a new goal to avoid being alive without any purpose, Son Goku had given him unbeknown to him a new purpose allowing him to walk forward.

He had started training relentlessly, if Kakarot had used a Spaceship which could increase Earth's gravity by one hundred times, then he would do what he did.

Only using a gravity _three times stronger_. Because he was an Elite warrior, and Kakarot was a _Third_-Class warrior, it was to be that he could accomplish at least _three_ times what Kakarot did. He needed that to regain his Pride.

He had trained, again, again, and again...Then a new Super Saiyan came into the picture, killed the remains of Freeza's family and mocked him alongside Kakarot. This... trash was not even a Saiyan ! He had purple hair ! They did not defy gravity in the slightest...! He had no tail !...

This was when he took off Planet for three years, training in the harshest conditions, putting his life on the line... He would destroy those trash cans which were allegedly stronger than a Super Saiyan... After all it could only means that the boy was not a True Super Saiyan... That transformation was absolute, a True Super Saiyan would not be defeated so easily by toasters. He had trained and it was not enough, he would die. He would die once again, not even on the battlefield, fighting a fucking meteor rain.

Like the one who had «conveniently» destroyed Planet Vegeta.

It made him think of Freeza, it made him think of was he went through, of all his pent up rage, hatred, loathing of Kakarot, of Freeza, of that...that _Stranger_ ! Kakarot was one thing, he was a Saiyan, but a total stranger killing Freeza ?! **_He would not stand for this_**.

But Vegeta had always felt those emotions, it was not enough to destroy the barrier that held his power from him... Goku's barrier had been destroyed when he unleashed hatred for the first time... That stranger -Trunks- had reached it while feeling loss of a loved one for the first time... Living through it, not hearing about it. The transformation was achieved when first nearing the limit of your body, the depths of you available power... You reached a barrier that you had to break in order to reach an higher state. Only a foreign emotion, which completely turn your world upside down could accomplish that feat.

But for the first time in his life he admitted his own _weakness_ that day; he admitted that he was weak, that he was so weak that he had lived in slavery, that he had to beg another person to do his own work before dying ! That he had lost _his own pride because of his own weakness_.

_He exploded in anger... not to the outside world for once in his life, but against himself consciously... He was weak, he admitted it and it made him mad._

_Slowly... The madness threatened to overwhelm him, it was primal and rightfully his like his Oozaru transformation... Only stronger, more refined._

_He did not want to fight it, for once he let it overwhelm him as he yelled in the depth of outer space._

_In a mighty yell his hair became the purest gold; his aura turned from it's usual purple-blue to gold as well... And his eyes if they had been menacing, lost in anger at himself became focused once again... Proud once again ! They were teal... A shade of teal that could not be found anywhere else in the universe._

_There he had stood, achieving the legend, regaining his _**birthright**_ he was a **Super Saiyan**._

He had laughed... He had laughed once again in his life... He could finally begin to feel pride once again, and he could only shaking in anticipation at how he would feel when he would finally defeat Kakarot...

Everything would make sense once again.

Everything made even more sense when he discovered that the purple-haired warrior had been no stranger at all, he was his son, Trunks, his heir : his blood was flowing through his veins. It made sense that he was like his father a Super Saiyan.

This was when he started once again holding Pride for something or someone other than himself. His dying race still thrived through his son...

He then _lost_ to a fucking trash can. He understood then that the power he held... was nothing like the power that the Legend depicted : The Super Saiyan was supposed to be Peerless, hence it meant that he had only begun to tap into the transformation potential which made sense.

It... did not disappoint him, he had one more goal to reach. It meant everything.

Then Kakarot recovered... He had had the same idea, they would go after the same thing and it would be one against the other, an unspoken challenge for who would make the most of the transformation to kill Cell and the Androids, who would be the strongest. If time had been the greatest issue the other Saiyan had come up with a Godsend.

The hyperbolic time chamber, where it all went wrong.

It had been... awkward at first to stay one year with his son all alone, but it had been bearable, even enjoyable since he now had a worthy sparing partner... He even taught his son a few things. He was although... strangely numb at the idea of having a son besides feeling pride... What was he supposed to do ? Wasn't he supposed to feel something at least ? He did not know... It was disturbing.

He then challenged Cell. It had been dissapointing, One year of training in hellish conditions...Perfect conditions for training for _that _? It would not be a warm-up for his fight with Kakarot, He would have done anything to have a better challenge on his hands.

He let him get stronger.

His son had then in a rare show of backbone punched him, he would have been even prouder -this meant his son's blood was true- if he had not been trying to get in his fucking way.

He would play the game that Trunks was so adamant on playing with his father then.

Cell had become stronger, so strong in fact than he had suffered yet another defeat, he had been infuriated but to add injury to the insult, he was left alive.

Perfect, he would train one more year and he would _stomp _on that bug to repay him for his _humiliation_.

Kakarot and his half-breed son had then gotten out of the chamber, he saw then that they had went in different ways than he did about improving Super Saiyan.

His son and himself had adopted a more muscular form, to be able to use more power and then had trained to get their speed up to par... He even had found the perfect balance between power and speed making himself all the more stronger.

Kakarot and the brat had decided to stay as Super Saiyan, to try and control their emotions even while battling as if it was the Oozaru transformation they had been dealing with...After all it was him that had found that by extended exposure to the «Fake Moon» he could control his advanced state through getting used to it... No one had been arround to teach him at the time. Of course Nappa had tried and had put him on the trail but he was no good at explaining complicated mechanics and did not really care about control anyway... He would achieve perfect control on his own.

It did not add any power to the Oozaru transformation anyway; controlling it only allowed you to think rationally which made you a better warrior instead of a beast, so he would not even have thought about using that method to improve Super Saiyan... He loved the feeling of pure, unadultered feralness that came with it... Kakarot had not improved his power then ? Pathetic he expected so much more... Was he throwing away his Saiyan Pride ? No it was not that...

His gloating was cut short however, he felt Kakarot powering up afterwards... It was _stronger_ than him at the moment.

He had...Surpassed him again. And he did not even think that he needed to train once more.

His half-breed brat was doubtlessly the youngest Saiyan to achieve the transformation... Tarnishing his pride once more because his own son had done it later on in his life.

He would train once more.

'And then...in the end it was not enough, not only Kakarot was stronger than me but his son did even more than that !' he thought, the ground was shaking under him now

'And then...Kakarot _died_ ! He fucking died on the battlefield, this time forever, taking away any chance that I had to defeat him ! To regain my pride ! To relish on the challenge of it !' His eyes were altering between black and teal.

'That bastard Cell killed Trunks and I was not able to save him ! To avenge him ! He was FUCKING TAKEN AWAY !' He would never forget that moment, his numbness at the idea of having a son crashed onto him like a hammer, he could _feel _that it was his son now alongside with the pride, the attachment... the sorrow of his loss... It was no more awkward... It was natural. Only after his death. His hair started shining while he was letting grunts in the Gravity Room.

'And then... Then... I could no more defeat anyone, Gohan protected me... I had no more reason to fight ! No more purpose to fight for ! Kakarot was my goal, he was my fucking goal... The last true Saiyan... My _rival_' he was not afraid of giving him that moniker now 'And... He died... He died..'. «He FUCKING DIED BEFORE I COULD DEFEAT HIM ONCE AND FOR ALL !» He yelled and finally achieving his full transformation, his most advanced state of Super Saiyan with muscles bulging under the raw _ki _brought to surface.

He had thought about it all... He could no more challenge him, if he died... Well he would go to hell and that fool was most certainly in heaven bettering himself against all kinds of warriors... Where he would _never_ be able to follow him.

He had thought about challenging the stronger one, Son Gohan who he now acknowledged as a worthy fighter.

But that was the problem, Son Gohan was a _fighter _someone who would protect at all cost his home when push came to shove with any resources available, but he did not seek actively to better himself, for the only purpose of seeking new challenges, he was no warrior.

The only true warrior that he knew, the only worthy warrior had died and would not come back.

Eventually he would train, and then Son Gohan would most likely not, he, the _warrior_ would become stronger when in the meantime _fighter_ became weaker, in the end the warrior would defeat the fighter.

That was what he thought.

He had been defeated, Son Goku had surpassed him, in power and in mind before he could defeat him, there was no more Freeza, no more purpose.

There was nothing worse than keeping on living with no purpose at all... What could he fight now ? What could he do ? He just did not care...

He powered down to his normal state, shaking, his teeth bared.

He had _lost_.

_But he could still have his pride back..._

XxX

Bulma stood behind the Gravity Room's door, she knew that he had sensed her so she did not try and enter, she would respect his privacy... That was the relationship that they had, he knew she was there, she knew he knew, she knew he was there... And as a prideful woman she knew that you did not pity prideful men.

It was only an insult, Vegeta would get better on his own, she trusted him. He was strong. In mind and in body.

She walked away towards her lab deep in thought.

'To think that Goku had so much influence on people... that he could even affect _you_ to that extent... He could give hope to anybody did he not ? And he had so much charisma that even the worse of personalities would flock to him and become his ally... I for one would know Goku... You changed me.'... She thought fondly

«When I met you... I was nothing but a spoiled teenage... I went into adventures after adventures with you, I found true friends... I truly lived... And in the end I even found a man to love... Two if you count Yamcha at the time... I will not mourn you because that is not what you would have wanted, isn't it, Son-Kun ?» She whispered before entering her lab.

She took the dragon radar stored there, looked at it before putting it inside the closet where she had put seven flowers and a picture...

«Farewell, My little brother...» She shed a tear. «I swear that I will take care of your family in your stead if that's what it takes... Poor Gohan is surely devastated and Chichi lived essentially for you... You would not be able to rest in peace if they were sad would you ?» She said, smiling and crying at the same time

«I need to find something to cheer them up only for a while... To gather our friends for a happy moment instead of preparing for a fight...» She said out loud when she meant to think it.

«Why wouldn't you do what you always did when you were sad Bulma ?» A voice, she knew that voice.

«Mom?! Since when are you there ?!» She had almost hit her in surprise !

«I was taking you some cookies... Since you always forget to eat when preoccupied... Why would you not throw a party like you always did ?»

«A party ?! Don't be ridiculous who would...» It then hit her.

Son Goku was not someone who would want his death to be a sad event with a full blown funeral.

Son Goku would want that a party was thrown instead, that his name was one last time reason to party. That his death was the occasion of a new beginning.

It was perfect.

Though it would not exactly be like her high school parties that her mother talked about...

She let out a laugh, and then full blown laughter.

She could just imagine Chichi nagging her about how the others girls there were dressed and behaving shamelessly, appalled at their behavior.

She could just imagine Goku thinking that the Punch was juice and snaking off with it to drink it all, and how she could see for the first time in her life Goku drunk. Only the thought was enough to make her feel good again... Smiling fondly.

She could imagine how Krillin would be trying to imitate Yamcha, flirting with girls all night long, Tien blaming their lifestyle which was unbecoming of true martial artists. Somehow Launch would be here and emptying her riffle at some unfortunate men.

She could imagine everyone running away in fear at the sight of Piccolo, who would be more amused than anything because Gohan would be laughing at his expense good-heartedly...

Her mother satisfied that her daughter was much more like her usual self went out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She did not even have cookies in her tray anyway.

'Yes...It would be perfect. I will throw a party and ensure that they all come... A much more sober party though... Only to find a location... Not at Capsule Corp since it would remind them too much of our fight... Not at the Lookout because that was where Goku had refused coming back... Where ?!'

Then she thought about it.

Oh yes, it would be _perfect_.

XxX

Vegeta had blasted off Capsule Corporation in his normal state... He had one place to go, one place.

He quickly landed... Silently he made his way by foot towards a rocky formation.

Arround him there was cliffs, mountain, and two craters which joined at one point becoming a circle shaped crater.

There was no mistaking it, he was at the Cell Game's arena.

He started speaking aloud, knowing that nobody was there.

«You know Kakarot... When I first met you it was in a rocky formation like that one... In the course of one year you had gone from the level of a Third-class Saiyan like your useless trash of a brother to a First-class Saiyan... Even if by birth you were still a Third-Class» He said, strangely in an emotionless tone, still walking forwards

«You then defeated someone who had let his Saiyan pride behind, you vanquished Nappa and he begged for my help on his knees like an useless worm... You were more of a Warrior than he could ever hope to be» He still walked

«You defied me and it infuriated me... How could trash like you, I thought could dare fighting me, and then harming me ? I did not realize but I had truly become like Freeza didn't I ? I relished in what little power I had against what I esteemed were weaker opponents, knowing that there were stronger people than me and that I was too much of a weakling to defy them...» He said spitefully against himself.

«But you...You chose to fight against someone that you knew was stronger than you, you never gave up, you never went against your beliefs, you fought against your natural limits to defend your home unlike me, to answer the call of your Saiyan blood !... You defeated me...For the first time» He said, eyes closed, still walking.

«When you discovered Freeza existence... You did not fear him, you did not procrastinate your challenge to him... You trained, you surpassed your limites and you defeated him... You became a Super Saiyan and succeeded where I could not.» He said

«You provided me with a challenge, even more so than fighting Freeza ever was, you pushed me to my limits, you forced me to let go of my limits, and I became a Super Saiyan.» He stopped, bending forward, he then took a black stone, blackened by the Kamehameha blast.

«You... Never gave up, you surpassed me times and times again, and when push came to shove you acted like a true Saiyan, you chose to fight the Androids instead of taking the cowards way out and you stepped back to let your son realize his own power... You accepted your limits, backed down and fought from then on another fight, the fight for the Earth's eventual survival, allowing your son to become the one who would eventually slay Cell...» He was shaking.

«I did not overcome you before your death... Even now I'm forced to admit the truth, you were stronger than me...» He said finally, closing his eyes.

He punched the ground creating a small crater, and he erected the black stone, which stood proudly, he then proceeded to crave something with his finger on the stone.

«Those earthlings don't know anything about our culture, Kakarot do they ? A saiyan's body was never buried, a black stone was erected on his home planet by his family which bore the crest of his family... As a reminder of all the Saiyan which came before the newborns and theirs deeds...» He said, smirking.

«In the end Kakarot... I accept your death but it is not the end... If this is what it takes I will defend that mudball in your stead, I will redeem myself of my..._sins _and then I will come to you and we will have one last fight, you against me, no holds bared ! You have better be training, because the Prince of All Saiyans is coming for you ! I will never surrender and wallow in self-pity ! I'm a warrior from Planet Vegeta ! And from now on I'm one of this Planet defenders ! In the end, I always called you prideless, but you had a Pride, that pride was not within yourself, it was this Planet, those 'friends' of yours... And you died in the end defending your pride Kakarot...I swear on my pride that I will not see a Saiyan's Pride disappear while I'm still alive ! DO YOU HEAR ME, KAKAROT ?! I GAVE YOU MY PRIDE AT THAT MOMENT, AND NOW I'M REPAYING MY DEBT !» The Prince of all Saiyans realized...then yelled.

«Farewell, Kakarot, In the end... _You were a true Saiyan_.»

He then turned before blasting off, if you were to see the black stone which had been erected you would be able to read :

«Kakarot, a true _first-class_ Saiyan warrior

Dead on the battlefield

Born on Planet Vegeta, Raised on Earth

Rest in Peace»

_Under this scripting there was a familiar crest._

_The royal family crest._

XxX

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**There it is ! I centered that chapter arround Vegeta which my favorite character in the show besides Gohan... Goku goes without saying, in my childhood I favored him over Vegeta... I could not update up until now, since I had so many things to do besides writing... But since it is settled... I will also be publishing a one-shot soon once again about DBZ; and then I published yesterday the first chapter of another fanfiction ;).**

**To clarify something that could be confused ; Goku is not from the royal line, not at all, he is a Third-Class.**

**Anyway, I really loved your reviews, it even inspired me to write more and I cannot wait to see what you thought about this chapter...**

**x-Sheeqsee112-x :** Thanks you ! It is really important to me to get each character... well in character. As for why Gohan's ki went away... It is coming soon ;)

**RKF22 :** Thanks you ;) His love interest is something that will be revealed a bit later in the story though.


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